Supreme Court judge’s words in 2012 presaged today’s legal fiasco
“This is a setback for all of us, whether we were following the Bacon case or the implications of the Bacon case,” Premier John Horgan acknowledged on Monday.
“Whenever the judiciary makes a decision that appears to be discordant in the minds of the public, seems a bit off-base, that diminishes our confidence in the system.”
No kidding.
Many of us who have kept track of these bizarre proceedings feared something like this travesty might occur after B.C. Supreme Court Judge Mark McEwan first suggested back in 2010 that the case was curdled.
The closer he looked, the more he was horrified.
“The attorney general is obliged to ensure that the government, including other ministries, conforms to the laws the legislature passes, and that the constitutional rights of those entrusted to it, even those the public deems odious, are protected,” he fumed in 2012 after learning Bacon endured months of solitary confinement in the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre.
Consider how Bacon was treated after his arrest for first-degree murder on April 3, 2009 — about 18 months after the infamous gangland killings.
He was initially placed in what was called Segregation 2, in a cell that opened onto a windowless room with cinder-block walls and a concrete floor.
That was his home 23 hours a day except when he was allowed out into another small room, alone, for the remaining hour.
Bacon was subsequently moved to another cell, which he said was filthy and smeared with “blood, feces and mucous.”
His bed was a concrete slab with a vinyl-covered foam mat. He had one sheet and a thin blanket but no pillow. He said there was no change of bedding in the five weeks he was there. The lights burned constantly, only dimmed to some degree at night at the discretion of the guards.
His second cell had a video camera so guards could watch him go to the toilet.
The authorities even taped his phone calls with his lawyers — eight months of an outrageous and unbelievable breach of solicitor-client privilege.
What happened to Bacon was a shameful trampling of fairness, any sense of decency toward those awaiting trial and the presumption of innocence.
That’s before we even talk about the Mountie misconduct in the case and the behaviour of informants who were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
After nearly nine years in custody without a trial — a medieval situation — how does the once swaggering gangster feel?
“My client would like to find a way to get on with his life, but we have another charge to deal with before that can happen,” Eldred said. “And that’s what we are turning our attention to.”
Bacon remains in custody on a separate indictment of counselling murder. But was he happy about last week’s ruling? Does he feel he should get redress for what happened? Was he considering a constitutional lawsuit against the government, a la Maher Arar or Omar Khadr?
“I’m sure you are aware that bringing something like malicious prosecution must meet a very high standard, and that’s not being contemplated,” Eldred said. “As far as any other civil matters go, we have got the criminal matters to deal with and those are the main priority.”
This now infamous fiasco smacks of frontier justice, not the rule of law, and it screams for a public inquiry.
“I’m quite certain, I’m sure no one who was involved in this process is comfortable with how it has ended,” Eldred said.
Not comfortable? That’s a bloody understatement. Those who are responsible should be held to account for this unprecedented failure of the criminal justice system. They certainly shouldn’t be allowed to hide under the official cone of silence that has been imposed.